Historian Jeff Sklansky says a slow shift to personhood for American companies began with a Supreme Court ruling in eighteen nineteen.

VOA: special.2010.03.05

In the ruling, Chief Justice John Marshall described a corporation as an "artificial being" that is a "creature of the law."

VOA: special.2010.03.05

And they discuss his influence in the Supreme Court ruling in the case of a slave from Missouri named Dred Scott.

VOA: special.2009.05.14

In a different case, a ruling last week in New York has renewed debate about who can "own" genetic information.

VOA: special.2010.04.09

This week in our series, Harry Monroe and Leo Scully tell us about the ruling, and the continuing national debate over slavery.

VOA: special.2009.05.21

From the twelfth to the eighteenth century, the Louvre was the home of the ruling families of France.

VOA: special.2010.06.23

The ruling was unpopular. It came as Americans resisted big corporations like the First Bank of the United States, chartered by Congress.

VOA: special.2010.03.05

The ruling is based on the idea in the United States and many other countries that a corporation is a legal person.

VOA: special.2010.03.05

This use of government troops to end strikes caused many citizens to vote against the ruling Republican Party.

VOA: special.2010.06.10

Still,Kevin Russell, a lawyer who specializes in Supreme Court cases,says the ruling puts all employers to a task.

VOA: special.2009.07.03

Kosovo's Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni called the ruling on Thursday great news, and not just for Kosovo.

VOA: special.2010.07.24

The ruling clears the way for corporations and unions to use their own money to support the election or defeat of a candidate.

VOA: special.2010.03.12

Myriad is appealing the ruling. And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter.

VOA: special.2010.04.09

In its ruling, the court decided against the patent only because the idea was too abstract.

VOA: special.2010.07.16